04-06-2008, 03:50 PM
It seems as if you finally got rid of your dead weight. Don't send "dough boy" over here! We don't want him.
http://www.theledger.com/article/200804 ... 338/NEWS00 (http://www.theledger.com/article/20080403/NEWS/804030527/1338/NEWS00)
Lakeland Police Officer Resigned Amid Inquiries
Kevin Keappock was accused of official misconduct in two cases.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER
LAKELAND | A Lakeland police officer who had been suspended for three days in 2006 for tampering with evidence resigned Dec. 13 in the midst of two internal affairs investigations.
Kevin Keappock, who had been with the department since August 2004, had received numerous commendations for his work on the force, but also had a history of problems communicating with the public.
The investigations were opened in November following allegations of disorderly conduct.
They stemmed from complaints that 29-year-old Keappock had acted unprofessionally, in one incident advising the parents of a juvenile shoplifter at Kohl's in Lakeside Village to "beat her down" as punishment for her actions, according to reports from internal affairs.
That set of allegations was sustained Jan. 9. The other, pertaining to Keappock's behavior during another shoplifting incident involving two juveniles at Claire's, was found to contain insufficient evidence, reports said. But Assistant Chief Bill LePere wrote at the conclusion of the investigation that the complaint was probably true.
"We may not have sufficient evidence to prove this allegation," LePere wrote. "However, due to former Officer Keappock's extensive discipline history on cases similar to this a high probability exists that these violations did in fact occur." Both investigations were closed in February.
Internal affairs detectives conducted interviews with numerous witnesses in order to piece together the events leading up to the complaints.
On Nov. 17, Kaye Parker was shopping in the juniors department at Kohl's with her 15-year-old daughter when she came upon Keappock talking with Monica and Excell Hunter, who had brought their six children, ages 2 through 15, to the store.
The conversation piqued Parker's interest. The Hunters' 15-year-old daughter had apparently shoplifted a pair of underwear from the store and been caught by store security. The value of the underwear was so small that the store would not press charges, but an officer was called.
That officer, Parker realized, was instructing the parents on punishment.
According to the complaint Parker filed with the Lakeland Police Department on Nov. 17, Keappock told the parents that in order to get their daughter to listen, they should "beat her down" and hit her five or six times. They had a right to do this, he told them, as long as they did not lacerate her skin or make her bleed.
The girl was being detained in the Loss Prevention Office, the walls of which are connected to the juniors department dressing rooms.
While Parker's daughter went into a fitting room to try on clothes, Keappock walked Monica Hunter to the office to talk with her daughter.
According to interviews conducted during the investigation, Hunter tried speaking with her daughter, but after the girl gave her an "attitude," the conversation escalated into a brief physical altercation. Still in the fitting room, Parker's daughter heard someone shouting and banging against the wall and worried that someone had been hurt, the report said.
"Don't tell me she is giving you any lip," Parker said she overheard Keappock say to Excell Hunter.
Keappock agreed to help the parents get the girl inside their car to go home. The two tussled in the office before the girl became cooperative, the report said, and Keappock put her in the family's car.
Witnesses had differing views of the incident.
While the Parkers described Keappock's attitude as "arrogant" and his comments as an instruction and encouragement of violence, the Hunters told investigators that Keappock seemed like a professional and that they had interpreted his comments as an explanation of their rights under the law.
Keappock did not respond to requests for interviews during the course of the investigations, and could not be reached for comment for this article.
He has been the subject of an internal affairs investigation before.
Keappock was suspended for three days in 2006 after he destroyed evidence during an incident Nov. 9, 2005, that involved the son of a retired LPD officer, Raeborn Croft, according to reports.
Keappock discovered 18-year-old Houston Croft and two others in a car with a pipe and bag of marijuana while responding to a report of an incident at the city parking garage about 12:30 a.m., according to internal affairs reports. He called Raeborn Croft and other relatives to the scene and ultimately decided not to file a police report or make any arrests. Then he threw the marijuana into Lake Mirror, police said.
The clincher in the suspension, an officer said at the time, was that Keappock had destroyed evidence.
[ Shoshana Walter can be reached at 863-802-7590 or shoshana.walter@theledger.com. ]
http://www.theledger.com/article/200804 ... 338/NEWS00 (http://www.theledger.com/article/20080403/NEWS/804030527/1338/NEWS00)
Lakeland Police Officer Resigned Amid Inquiries
Kevin Keappock was accused of official misconduct in two cases.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER
LAKELAND | A Lakeland police officer who had been suspended for three days in 2006 for tampering with evidence resigned Dec. 13 in the midst of two internal affairs investigations.
Kevin Keappock, who had been with the department since August 2004, had received numerous commendations for his work on the force, but also had a history of problems communicating with the public.
The investigations were opened in November following allegations of disorderly conduct.
They stemmed from complaints that 29-year-old Keappock had acted unprofessionally, in one incident advising the parents of a juvenile shoplifter at Kohl's in Lakeside Village to "beat her down" as punishment for her actions, according to reports from internal affairs.
That set of allegations was sustained Jan. 9. The other, pertaining to Keappock's behavior during another shoplifting incident involving two juveniles at Claire's, was found to contain insufficient evidence, reports said. But Assistant Chief Bill LePere wrote at the conclusion of the investigation that the complaint was probably true.
"We may not have sufficient evidence to prove this allegation," LePere wrote. "However, due to former Officer Keappock's extensive discipline history on cases similar to this a high probability exists that these violations did in fact occur." Both investigations were closed in February.
Internal affairs detectives conducted interviews with numerous witnesses in order to piece together the events leading up to the complaints.
On Nov. 17, Kaye Parker was shopping in the juniors department at Kohl's with her 15-year-old daughter when she came upon Keappock talking with Monica and Excell Hunter, who had brought their six children, ages 2 through 15, to the store.
The conversation piqued Parker's interest. The Hunters' 15-year-old daughter had apparently shoplifted a pair of underwear from the store and been caught by store security. The value of the underwear was so small that the store would not press charges, but an officer was called.
That officer, Parker realized, was instructing the parents on punishment.
According to the complaint Parker filed with the Lakeland Police Department on Nov. 17, Keappock told the parents that in order to get their daughter to listen, they should "beat her down" and hit her five or six times. They had a right to do this, he told them, as long as they did not lacerate her skin or make her bleed.
The girl was being detained in the Loss Prevention Office, the walls of which are connected to the juniors department dressing rooms.
While Parker's daughter went into a fitting room to try on clothes, Keappock walked Monica Hunter to the office to talk with her daughter.
According to interviews conducted during the investigation, Hunter tried speaking with her daughter, but after the girl gave her an "attitude," the conversation escalated into a brief physical altercation. Still in the fitting room, Parker's daughter heard someone shouting and banging against the wall and worried that someone had been hurt, the report said.
"Don't tell me she is giving you any lip," Parker said she overheard Keappock say to Excell Hunter.
Keappock agreed to help the parents get the girl inside their car to go home. The two tussled in the office before the girl became cooperative, the report said, and Keappock put her in the family's car.
Witnesses had differing views of the incident.
While the Parkers described Keappock's attitude as "arrogant" and his comments as an instruction and encouragement of violence, the Hunters told investigators that Keappock seemed like a professional and that they had interpreted his comments as an explanation of their rights under the law.
Keappock did not respond to requests for interviews during the course of the investigations, and could not be reached for comment for this article.
He has been the subject of an internal affairs investigation before.
Keappock was suspended for three days in 2006 after he destroyed evidence during an incident Nov. 9, 2005, that involved the son of a retired LPD officer, Raeborn Croft, according to reports.
Keappock discovered 18-year-old Houston Croft and two others in a car with a pipe and bag of marijuana while responding to a report of an incident at the city parking garage about 12:30 a.m., according to internal affairs reports. He called Raeborn Croft and other relatives to the scene and ultimately decided not to file a police report or make any arrests. Then he threw the marijuana into Lake Mirror, police said.
The clincher in the suspension, an officer said at the time, was that Keappock had destroyed evidence.
[ Shoshana Walter can be reached at 863-802-7590 or shoshana.walter@theledger.com. ]